Some sellers are actually approved to sell in some restricted categories
and don't know it. If you want to see which, if any, you are approved in,
first log into Seller Central and then
use this link.

eBay wants to remind you that the new, simplified seller standards announced in their Fall Seller Update took effect on February 20, 2016. Here's a quick
recap of the updates-click any link below for more details: Starting February 20, just two key metrics will be used to measure seller performance.
Read More

Amazon increased the minimum shopping cart amount needed for non-Prime members
to qualify for free shipping. Non-members must now spend a minimum of $49, up
from $35, to get free shipping. Members don't have a minimum. I suspect the
reason for thisis so Amazon can add more people to its $99 annual Prime
loyalty program.

Nathan Bailey who runs my coaching department has just set up a new shipping service for eBay, Etsy and Amazon sellers that can save you a lot of money and
time. Here are the details:

Sign up for
www.integraship.com
for free and get free discounted commercial plus priced shipping rates, a
shipping rate quote tool that shows all rates for all major carriers USPS, UPS, DHL, Fed Ex. Free order batching and shipping label integration print out
with eBay, Amazon,

Etsy, and many other platforms. So all your sales across multiple channels batch into one place tracking everything and automatically keeping your
customers informed of the tracking info.

You may have heard rumors about Amazon leasing aircraft and setting up their own Global Delivery service. Well its true.
Here is a link
to an article that describes the program.

It looks like eBay needs to raise some money. This announcement just came out
on Feb 22nd.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) today announced
the pricing of an underwritten public offering of $750 million of its
6.00% Notes due 2056 (the “Notes”) at an initial public offering price of
$25 per Note, plus accrued interest, if any. eBay expects the offering to
close on February 29, 2016, subject to customary closing conditions. eBay
intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate
purposes, which may include capital expenditures, share repurchases, repayment
of indebtedness and possible acquisitions.

The Notes have been approved for listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market
under the symbol “EBAYL.” eBay expects trading in the Notes on the
Nasdaq Global Select Market to begin within 30 days after the original issue
date of the Notes. eBay actually has a lot of cash but it is tied up overseas
and can’t come home because of the high US taxes they would incur.

Remember the new FBA fees went into effect on February 18th. You can see the new fees
here.

A national Internet Sales tax is coming and with all the lobbying power of the big firms like Target, Sears, Home Depot and other retail giants there isn't
much we can do about it but there are some things. The act is called the Marketplace Fairness Act and it will require small internet retailers like us to
collect and pay sales tax on all internet sales. (except food and clothing in some states).

Since it is highly unlikely we can stop some form of Internet tax, there is a better way and my congressperson suggested that if enough sellers wrote their
Senators (where the bill is now) that there is a possibility it could be changed. Here is the idea:

Instead of us sellers having to deal with all 50 states (which BTW, contain a total of 9600 separate taxing districts), have the Federal government set up
a fixed internet tax amount on all internet sales. Then each month, or quarter, sellers would just send the money to the IRS and the IRS could send the
money to the states proportionally based on their population. I know that all states have different amounts of sales tax so the amount each state got would
not necessarily be even, but it solves the bigger problem of sellers (and the states) having to deal with millions of small sellers and tiny amounts of
money that in reality it costs the states more to collect than they receive.

Here is an example. Here in Washington State where I live, we have about 40 different taxing districts. On many occasions, we have done our quarterly sales
taxes and since the sales were so small, the amount of money sent to many of those districts was under 50¢. But a county worker who probably makes $30
an hour or more has to process that 50¢ into their system which you know costs them more than 50¢ to do, so they are actually losing money on
that collection.

eBay's legislative action team is fighting the Marketplace Fairness Act (For some reason Amazon is not) but you can fight it to. Since the lobbyists have
spent millions of dollars lobbying congress there isn't much chance we can kill the concept, but if enough of use send this idea to our Senators it is
possible they might consider this new system as it solves the problem the big stores have of competing with millions of us internet sellers and the federal
government usually likes to have these things under their control instead of the states.

You can send them an email with your ideas. Remember keep it polite or they will just trash it. If they hear from enough of us it might just work.

Last year I told you about a new website for online sellers where buyers can make an offer. The site is Infinite Buyer. In all honesty this outfit has
struggled to gain traffic and traction for a while, but the founders are really smart & honest people who are keeping at it until they are successful.

I know most of my readers are eBay and Amazon sellers but I also know many of you also have websites.

Here is a guest article by Brian Grega, one of the founders of Infinite Buyer, about a new great tool they have developed that can possibly help you make
more sales from your website.

How to Sell More Profitably from Your Website

Online shopping reached $304 billion, and nearly 9% of total retail sales in the U.S. And yes, Amazon remains a giant in this market, as most estimates
indicate that 1/3 of all online retail sales occur on Amazon. But what online sellers need to recognize is that two-thirds of online retail sales still
happen on other websites, like yours.

And, when customers transact on your website, you enjoy the following benefits.

Higher Margins - no listing fees, no fulfillment fees

Reduced competition - the consumer is on your site without seeing alternatives on the same page, your products are not a commodity

Up-sell opportunity - you get the accessory add-on, not another seller

Branding - visitors see and know your brand versus on Amazon where you may become a nameless vendor

However, in order to succeed at selling more frequently and more profitably from your own website, you need to understand how to leverage the first
principle of marketing, "Know Thy Customer!"

The Primary Reason for Low Conversion Rates

The biggest challenge facing most online retailers is that on average, the conversion rate across all retail websites can literally be a fraction of a
percent.

Even worse, shopping cart abandonment rates are estimated to be as high as 75% and growing, in 2015 alone, nearly $8B worth of items were left behind by
consumers, who have moved an item into their shopping cart, but failed to transact.

Study after study shows that the primary reason for low conversion rates and high shopping cart abandonment rates is simple, it's price.

Whether it's "unexpected shipping costs" or simply to compare prices from your competitor's site, the fact is, consumers have a lot of power with the
internet, they leave your site and search for the best deal for themselves.

SO, in order to succeed, do I have to offer the lowest priced product?

Not necessarily. If you accept the premise that the internet allows consumers both the convenience and the opportunity to buy items they want, at a price
they are willing to pay, which is in almost all cases, lower than the manufacturer's suggested retail price, then you will have to offer a price lower than
retail, and low enough for the consumer to transact on your site, rather than going to look for a lower price from your competitor's websites.

But, here's the good news, you do not have to publish a discounted price for all consumers to see, as that sets an artificial "ceiling" on your price, a
consumer will never transact with you at a price higher than what you have published. The secret is to be able to sell at a unique price point to each
individual buyer - at the price they are willing to pay and at a price you are willing to accept.

Infinite Buyer's "Make Your Deal" button on your website

Colorado-based Infinite Buyer Inc. has just announced a new service, where online retailers can place a "Make Your Deal" button on the seller's own
website, allowing consumers the opportunity to digitally and automatically negotiate a successful transaction before the consumer leaves to another
website.

With the "Make Your Deal" button, you don't give up control of your price, you simply control the range of prices various consumers will buy at. You would
set your product's price points at which you would either, "decline", "counter", or "accept" a shopper's offered price. You can modify those price points,
in real-time, anytime, without publicly revealing those discounted prices. (Side note from Skip - This is similar to eBay's Best Offer feature
which has been shown to increase sales by over 15% on items that allow Best Offer).

The benefits of using Infinite Buyer's "Make Your Deal" button are the following,

Consumers stay on your website and work toward a transaction with you

There are no listing fees, you only pay Infinite Buyer if you transact

Low Infinite Buyer transaction fees of 5.9%

Cash comes in faster, as you get paid when the transaction happens

Infinite Buyer takes the risk

If you register with Infinite Buyer and begin using the "Make Your Deal" button on your website before March 31st, 2016, Infinite Buyer Inc. will provide a
free trial, with no transaction fees for 90 days. This will give you time to see if you can sell more on your website, improve your operating margins, and
increase your cash flow.

I know a lot of you sell on both eBay and Amazon and on Amazon, Gourmet Food Items are a restricted category that requires approval. When you request
approval two of the things Amazon requires are:

Three copies of invoices from actual food wholesalers

A Website where Amazon can see your listings

Well eBay can solve both of these problems for you. One thing that stops most sellers is they are afraid to buy the food items before getting approval as
they feel they might get stuck with the items and not get approved. That is the first problem eBay solves. I sell in the gourmet food category on both eBay
and Amazon -and although my items don't sell as fast on eBay as they sell on Amazon -they do sell.

So you can go ahead and purchase some items and list them on eBay while you wait for Amazon to approve you. When you buy your items just make sure the
vendor sends you an invoice and you keep a copy of it so you can scan it and upload to Amazon with your approval request. Once you are approved, you can
still source from retail stores. One of my biggest sources used to be Trader Joes stores and their items sell quite well on both eBay and Amazon.

The second issue is a website. Well, as it turns out, Amazon will accept your eBay storefront as a website where they can check your listings. One thing to
be careful about - eBay only requires images to be 600 pixels on a side whereas Amazon requires at least 1000. So make sure your store images are at least
1000 pixels on a side so when Amazon looks at them they will approve you. Another thing Amazon now requires is you include an image of the side or back of
the package that shows the nutrition information label. So be sure and include an image of that also.

And of course, you will have to set up an eBay Store so you can get a storefront to send the link to Amazon, but if you want to you can close your eBay
store after you get your approval. Although you may want to keep it open as my eBay store does pretty well.

What kind of food can you sell?

Obviously you cannot sell fresh or items that need freezing or refrigeration, so that means you are looking for packaged items, such as canned goods,
packaged dry foods and that sort of thing. If you are an FBA seller, be careful with liquids. Amazon has a rule that you may not send any liquid to an FBA
warehouse in a glass container that is more than 4 ounces in size. Metal and plastic are OK, just don't buy any 12-ounce bottles of olive oil.

Where can you source food items?

One of the easiest and best places are local farmer's markets. These will start to open soon as we get closer to Spring. Yes, most of the produce at
farmer's market is fresh, but I have never been to a Farmer's market where I didn't see some local entrepreneurs selling some packaged goods like honey,
spices, hot sauce, beef jerky and so on. Just approach these folks and ask if they sell wholesale by the case. You could offer to sell them on consignment
but I have found most of them will not do this, but they will almost always sell in fairly small quantities such as a case of 12.

The other way to find Food wholesalers is just to Google Food Distributor with the name of your city. Such as Pittsburgh food distributors. I did this and
here is a partial screenshot. There were actually 6 pages of results.

Now some of these folks will be fresh food distributors, So just hit all the websites until you find a few that sell they type of packaged foods you are
interested in. Also some of them will be large distributors who only sell to supermarkets and grocery stores, but that is OK as I guarantee there will also
be some smaller distributors who will work with you -just keep looking until you find them.

The third way is when you are in a grocery store and find an item that you want to sell, just look on the package and there will almost always be a website
for the company. Copy down the website (or take a photo of the package) and when you get home visit the website and send the company an email through their Contact Us form and ask if they have a rep or distributor in your area. Not all of them will answer, but most will.

Here are just a few completed listings from eBay. For the first one, I just typed in Spices and the second one I typed in Trader Joes:

1Stop Wholesale
is the largest distributor of recycled clothing in the US. They sell used blue jeans for as low as $3.50 pair. Don't laugh - I have seen used blue jeans
selling on eBay for as high as $50 a pair.

Please Note:
Some of the products and
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newsletters and blog posts are for products and services for which I
earn a referral fee or commission. We always evaluate anything we
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recommendations, we only recommend products and services that we
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